Documenting the Intangible: a new approach for preserving immaterial aspects of cultural heritage

According to the possibility of a sustainable development, the new challenge for the cultural Heritage in developed countries is the conservation of all the immaterial aspects of culture, severely at risk because of globalization. This hazard regards especially small villages so that Cultural Institutions are promoting specific studies and projects for their monitoring and documenting. Coherently with this approach, an innovative research has been carried out in Orgosolo, a small village in the island of Sardinia (Italy), birthplace of the “canto a tenore”, Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, and site of murals, appeared in the Sixties, with social and political purposes. A digital web archive, constantly updatable, has been produced, to relate information on tangible and intangible aspects. It also includes images, literature and movies set in this local context, created by neorealist Italian and American photographers, writers and directors.